


thief

by dontholdmecloser



Category: British Actor RPF, Kingsman (Movies), Kingsman (Movies) RPF, Rocketman (2019), Rocketman (2019) RPF, Taron Egerton Fandom, Welsh Actor RPF
Genre: Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Enemies to Lovers, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Heist, London, London Underground, Multi, Robbery, Roommates, Theft
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-27
Updated: 2020-03-06
Packaged: 2021-02-27 13:27:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,128
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22437931
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dontholdmecloser/pseuds/dontholdmecloser
Summary: I wasn't planning on seeing Taron again after chance running into him and taking a little, uh, souvenir. However, I soon change my mind...
Relationships: Taron Egerton/Miriam, Taron Egerton/Original Female Character(s), Taron Egerton/Reader, Taron Egerton/Richard Madden, Taron Egerton/You
Comments: 4
Kudos: 14





	1. Chapter 1

I entered pret a manger in a pretty good mood. Not for any real reason, it was just one of those days where I felt like nothing could go wrong. And then... it got even better. Out of the corner of my eye, I spot him. Not Shia LaBeouf. 

It was... That Egerton guy? The twink from Kingsman. Taron! That's the one. A quick Google search told me everything I needed to know and way more than I was interested in. Although it looked like he was gonna star in that Elton John movie Rocketman that was set to come out soon, which was bound to be interesting. I hoped it would be better than the Freddie movie anyway, which ended up being, as the French would say, sacré bleue je ne sais pas. I don't speak French. It fucking sucked.

Either way, he seemed like the type of person who would get me a ton of clout if I managed to snap a pic with him, so I decided to execute the plan I quickly cooked up. He was on his phone, clearly waiting for someone, so I started approaching him from behind. He was wearing a white t-shirt that was clearly tailored to him, and light blue jeans that hugged the curve of his ass except for where his wallet was sticking out from his back pocket, interrupting the smooth fabric. I tapped him on the shoulder, startling him, which made me laugh.

"Hey, sorry, didn't mean to scare you- are you Taron Egerton?"

By now he regained his composure and smiled at me. "That I am. Can I help you?"

God he's nice. "Yes uh- would you mind if I took a picture with you? I'm a huuuge fan" I smiled, the lie coming easily as I took my phone out and unlocked it. I was wearing gloves, but the kind that has a different material on the tip of your thumb so you can still use your phone.

"Sure thing!" He locked his phone and put it in his pocket to take mine. He was texting someone, I couldn't make the name out- something with M? It made no difference to me. He held my phone up after opening the camera app and pulled me closer with his left arm to snap a few pictures, putting me in the perfect position.

He flinched when he felt my entire hand grabbing his ass, but laughed it off as I grinned at him while using him being distracted to quickly slip his wallet out from his back pocket with my middle and ring fingers and into the sleeve of my hoodie. The entire thing was over in less than a second. He was completely oblivious. Wonderful.

He handed me my phone back and I pretended to be interested in the pics. "Thank you so so much! Can I just say," I paused to dig around in the trivia part of my short term memory "you're absolutely amazing in Eddie the Eagle! And I really can't wait for Rocketman, I'm sure it'll be great" the fact that the last part is kinda genuine helped sell the lie as I flashed my sweetest smile at him. He thanked me and said something about how he hopes I'll like it, but I was only half paying attention by now. I thanked him again and told him to have a nice day, and quickly slipped out of the pret.

I glanced back one more time just as a brown haired woman passed by me and entered the building. Taron lifted his head and smiled at her in greeting. Guess that's who he was waiting for.

I turned and walked away as casually as I could before quickly breaking out into a sprint as soon as I was sure I was out of sight. Wouldn't want him to notice his missing wallet and connect it to me just yet, and he was gonna attempt to pay soon if they'd eat there so I didn't have a lot of time to make my escape. 

I quickly got on the tube headed to my flat and got to thinking. Noone would ever know who the thief was. Maybe my selfie with him would get a few retweets or something but that would be the end of it. No, if I got this far, I might as well do something with it. 

As soon as I got home, I opened my laptop and went to the first site I thought of. Knowing how nice Taron was, this plan should work just fine. Or not- to hell with it, here goes. I typed in his credit card info and my address, and, with a big exhale through my nose, pressed "place order".


	2. Chapter 2

"Yes, thank you"

"And what can we help you with today?"

"Right, um, could I please get my purchasing history? Just the last item I purchased with this card. Site and address too, please." 

"Sir, I'm gonna need you to verify yourself with your personal password." 

"Cannwyll"

"Thank you... I was able to pull the details of your last purchase, may I ask why you need this information?"

"Oh um- I uh, well I'm worried I gave the wrong address but I can't access my email to check the confirmation letter, that's all."

"Right. I can send you all the details via text message if that's more convenient."

"Oh, that'd be splendid, thank you."

"Is there anything else I can help you with today?" 

"No, that is all, thank you again."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I knew I made the right choice" he said as a greeting as soon as I opened my door. 

"What- what are you doing here???" I was trying to feign innocence and act like I was speechless even though not only did I know the answer already, I also knew everything was going according to plan. 

"Well", he started as he stepped past me and into my shitty crumbling flat, "earlier today you asked to take a picture with me at Pret, which in itself was quite usual. You assaulting me wasn't, but I suppose it comes with the job." I felt ashamed at that, though he didn't need to point it out for me to feel that way, but it needed to be done for me to reach my goal "What really surprised me, however, was when I went to pay for the orders of my girlfriend and I, and found that my wallet had gone missing."

He paused here, so I once again tried to act like I didn't plan all of this. "Taron, I-" he put his hand up to stop me.

"And you know, I originally thought I had maybe dropped it, or someone had stolen it earlier, but then as I was trying to figure out what to do, I got a text from my bank saying, let's see here..." he took out his phone "Taron Egerton World Gold Card purchase: 1.26 pounds. Date uuh today, place eBay.com and new balance et cetera. Point is, someone stole my credit card and instead of taking money off it or trading it, they got a coffee mug off eBay. I called my bank and asked them to track the address of the purchase, and now here we are. Care to explain?" He must've thought about this speech for ages because it was ridiculously well prepared. I wasn't even sure he ever took a breath during it. 

"I- I'm sorry Taron, I swear I don't normally do anything like this, but I- oh my god" here I pretended I just noticed the eviction notice glued to the outside of my still open door. I willed my eyes to fill with tears as I read through it. "Listen, my parents don't care about me and I can barely afford food and I'm so behind on rent- well, not anymore because now I'm being EVICTED" I started fully crying, not even sure if it was still fake or not "I'm barely scraping by- and... And... I just thought, I know this guy's rich, I might as well steal from him if anyone, he can afford to lose some money and it'll probably save my life..." I trailed off, trying to suppress my sobs as he stared at me, speechless "....what did you mean by "made the right choice?"

That seemed to snap him out of his trance, though not much "Wh- what?"

"When I opened the door after you knocked. Your first words were "I knew I made the right choice" or something." 

"Oh, that... I meant in not calling the police. I suspected something like, uh, this" he gestured around awkwardly "might be going on."

I sniffed. "Gee, thanks."

His face dropped in alarm "No no I didn't mean it like that-" tables? turned. bingo "I just- I had a feeling it'd be someone in need and..." he trailed off and hesitantly reached out to grab my shoulder, and pulled me into a hug when I didn't move away "I'm sorry. I wanted to do the most to help. You did steal my wallet after all."

I laughed against his shoulder as he hugged me. "Guess I lucked out on this one, huh?" The eviction notice I was still grasping made a crinkling noise as I wrapped my arms around him and I suddenly remembered just how fucked I was. "you can have your wallet back, I'm sorry for dragging you into my shit" I said, pulling away.

"No, I- you can keep it. I want to help you" FUCK he was so nice. "I just realised I never thought to ask- what's your name?"

"...Jay, not that it matters. And you don't have to help me, I'll be fine..." I trailed off. I could use some help, but we diverted from the plan I had devised. I was hoping he'd report me after we talked and I'd make headlines or at LEAST some minor news, but now he not only wanted to keep it a secret but he also wanted to help me. He was waaaay too nice for this world. 

"Nice to meet you Jay" he smiled "and I bet you'd be, but I still want to help. I feel like I have to." He looked genuine, and he got me thinking. 

Most of this was fake, I made my flat look way shittier than it normally is, but the note in my hands was very real, as was the pain of my parents disowning me after I got charged with larceny yet again and they had to bail me out. Yeah, the part about me usually not being a thief was total bullshit. I was a master at both pickpocketing and shoplifting, though evidently not good enough since I still got caught sometimes.

"I appreciate it but... It just wouldn't feel right. I don't want to use you." Ironic, but kinda true. Also I hated accepting help from strangers. I could do life on my own, thanks.

"No, no, I'm serious. I wouldn't know what to do with all the money I have anyway, it's all too sudden, but you know, maybe I could help someone else" he looked at me encouragingly "I just bought a new flat in London. Move in with me" 

I almost choked "What?! Wouldn't your girlfriend mind?? Also, I'm fine here, really" 

"Here? Y'mean the place you're being evicted from that also happens to be falling apart?" As if to illustrate his point, one of the blinds I've spent ages trying to get to stick came loose and fell off the small, dirty window it was barely covering." And don't worry, we're both busy so we're not around much, plus there's four bedrooms"

"I- I don't know what to say- uh..." I didn't expect this situation to go this way at ALL "Can I...think about it?" 

"Your eviction notice says you have two weeks so... I suppose you have two weeks to decide" he tried to grab my shoulder again but I pulled away with a look of alarm, my previous vulnerability completely gone and my hate for being touched back once more. "Sorry, um... Look, I'll give you my personal phone number and you give me yours. Call me when you make up your mind."

I nodded, speechless. We exchanged phones and I shakily typed my number in, putting my name as "Jay the pickpocket". I didn't know what I was doing. I still wasn't sure I wanted his help, all of this was so sudden and unbelievable it made my head spin. 

He handed me my phone back with a smile. "I'm sorry about all this, really."

I was still taken aback. "Why are you doing this? You don't know me. I stole from you. I should be going to jail, not to live in your house."

"I don't know" he shrugged "but I feel like I'm making the right decision. I hope you will, too."

And with that, he stepped past me as I instinctively jumped back, and closed the door behind him before I got the chance to say anything. Not that I could think of anything to say. 

What the fuck just happened.


	3. Chapter 3

I couldn't fall asleep. My brain felt like it was exploding trying to process everything that happened today. I woke up expecting nothing, walked up to him expecting a few bucks, made myself known expecting some clout at most and yet here I was, probably moving into some random celebrity's 3 million dollar home. It was insanity. 

Eventually I gave up sleep and decided to call my friend Holly. It was past 11 by then but I was sure she was still awake.

"Hi," I said as soon as she picked up, "is this a good time?"

"Of course! Oh my god, I missed you, I'm so glad you called!" I never understood how she had so much enthusiasm for life, but I appreciated it nonetheless.

"You won't believe what happened to me today...." I took a deep breath and launched into the story. By the time I finished, she was absolutely losing it. 

"Jesus Jay, that is insane!! I cannot believe this actually happened... You're not pulling my leg are you??" she yelled. 

"No, no I'm serious this time. It's totally unbelievable though" I sighed. 

"Do you need me to help move your stuff?" 

"What? No, I'm not even sure I should accept his offer yet..." she cut me off.

"Are you crazy?! This is like something straight out of a fanfiction!! It's every teenage fangirl's and delusional 30 year old's dreams come true!! If you pass this up, I'll kill you for reals. Plus you're being evicted anyways, so it's not like you have a choice. Come on Jay." She had a point.

"You have a point." I sighed. "I have to sleep on it. Can we meet tomorrow?"

We agreed to meet at the pret-a-manger near my house to have breakfast the next morning. My mind wouldn't stop racing for hours after I hung up. I wasn't sure when I eventually fell asleep, or if I ever did, but I got out of bed at 7am feeling like someone spent the entire night beating me with a fire extinguisher.

I got ready and left my flat, carefully avoiding my landlord. I took the tube to the pret we discussed we'd meet at. Holly was already there. 

"Hey Jay", Holly practically yelled as she sprung up from her seat and hugged me, "I've been spinning ever since our phone call last night, Cinder couldn't understand what got into me!! Please please tell me you made up your mind."

I sighed as I sat down. "I'm not quite sure to be honest... He seems like a genuinely nice guy, and you know me, I'm anything but nice. I don't think I could resist taking stuff from his apartment just for shits. I don't want to abuse his kindness." 

"C'mon, you said he said he was a millionaire with no idea what to do with his money, I'm sure he wouldn't mind even if he noticed! Plus by now you have tons of practice, I'm sure he wouldn't notice anyway." fair enough.

"And what about his girlfriend? Even if Taron is okay with me moping around his mansion all day, I'm not sure the girl he lives with would be all too excited about a stranger being in her home."

"Oh who cares! Plus you can be charming if you want to, I'm sure you'll win her over." She smiled at me encouragingly.

"No, I can pretend to be charming. You know how much I hate people." Just the idea of having a random angry woman as a roommate I'd be forced to interact with was making me shiver.

"Pretend then. Play the part of a cute charming goody-two-shoes roommate. You have the sad backstory and everything. I'm sure she'll be fine with you eventually." She folded her arms as she leaned back in her seat, looking at me challengingly. 

"...fine, okay. I'm taking his offer." I buried my face in my hands "what is my life?!" 

"Oh thank god you came to your senses. I don't even know how you weren't sure from the start." She said, laughing. Easy for her to speak, it's not her life that's about to be turned upside down. 

She ended up paying for both our food since I barely had any money, and then we said our goodbyes. She once again made me promise I'd call Taron and accept his offer. 

I took a bus to Hyde park and walked to Round Pond. I'd always liked watching the birds there, they had such a calming effect, and calm was exactly what I needed right now, seeing as my heart felt like it was about to explode in my chest. 

I took a deep breath and pressed the dial button. Taron picked up after only 2 rings. 

"Hello?"

"Taron, it's me" my heartbeat was off the charts. 

"I know who you are" he laughed.

"Well I've got something to tell you. I..." I was gonna come clean about all the stealing as well, but I desperately needed a house and money, and I was sure he'd go back on his offer if I told him everything about my background. I paused for a long time, but he said nothing, so I took a deep breath and said it. "I've decided to accept your offer. Thank you." No going back now.

What have I done?


	4. Chapter 4

I packed my bags in a complete daze. I still couldn't believe what was happening. I was done all too soon, I didn't have a lot of items to begin with, and most of it was stolen and would require way more explaining than I was ready for, so I decided to just throw out everything except for clothes and some personal (or at least personal looking) stuff. 

Taron showed up just as I finished dragging the second bag full of stolen rubbish into the building's enormous wastebin and was about to make my way back up to my flat. He jogged up the few stairs to catch up with me before the building's door could close. 

"Hey", he said as he hugged me, "why didn't you wait for me? I could've helped to carry some of that."

"I'm fine, really, but thank you. You came at just the right time, everything's packed up or thrown out now" I said as we climbed the stairs, me taking them two at a time.

I gave him one of my bags and put the other one on my back. "Go ahead, I'll be down in a minute, just wanna take a last look around." I quickly did a final check to make sure I wasn't leaving anything valuable and/or illegal behind, then with a sigh I closed the front door for the last time.

Taron had already paid the rent I missed and then some to make sure my landlord didn't sue so he was quite kind to me when I returned my keys and checked out. He also said he'll miss me and he'd love to have me back. Liar. 

Taron was waiting for me by his taxi and we quickly loaded my bags and got in. He sat next to the driver and I sat behind him. 

The drive was mostly silent (on our part anyway, London was loud as always), and I spent the majority of it trying to process what was happening. 

Despite the insane traffic, we got there way too soon. I shakily took the bag Taron handed me, then watched him put the other one on his back before paying the driver. 

"Hey, you okay?" he asked as the taxi drove away. 

"Yeah, I'm fine thanks, just... Trying to process, I suppose." 

He chuckled. "Come on then." he led me up to the gate and showed me a keypad. "You're gonna have to remember the code for this, it's a bit long because security is tight around here, but I've written it down for you." He handed me a bit of paper with the numbers 6 21 3 11 21 13 1 9 18 25 written on it.

"Holy cow, that's a lot of numbers for just a gate" I said, gaping at the impossibly long code.

"Well, they had to make sure the gate can't be hacked or guessed or something. Go on, try" he said, gesturing to the keypad. "Whenever there's a space just press the button in the middle of the bottom row."

By some miracle I managed to enter the code right on the first try, and the gate buzzed open. We walked through and Taron greeted the old looking doorman.

"James, this is Jay, our new roommate. Jay, meet James, he's the doorman here." I shook James' hand and we exchanged some polite greetings; he seemed like a lovely man.

We took the elevator up to the 11th floor and walked down the carpeted hallway till we reached the flat. 

Taron took two keycards out of his pocket and handed one to me. "Here, you open the door with this. You just have to swipe it." Interesting...

I pretended to be in awe of my surroundings and quickly glanced around the hallway. Usually, cameras would be placed in corners or the middle of the ceiling, but I didn't see any.

"I suppose James has a master key?" I inquired "in case I get locked out or lose my card and you're not here." I added when Taron gave me a surprised look.

"Oh! I guess he must, though neither me nor my girlfriend have ever needed that before" there was a pause "um, why don't you go ahead and try to see if you can make the key work?"

Oh my god Taron, I'm not an idiot "Sure! Let's see here" I got the door open and put the card in my phonecase as we walked in. He closed the door behind us, but didn't bolt it. From what I could tell, other than a weirdly primitive looking metal clasp, there was no way to lock it from the inside.

"Well, here we are" he gestured around. "Uh... Why don't I show you around?"

I agreed and we headed into the flat after taking our shoes off. The entrance hall led to the kitchen and an enormous living room, he also showed me the bathroom and the room he and his girlfriend slept in, though only from the outside.

"This is your room, feel free to make yourself comfortable, I'll go and make some lunch" he put my bag down on the king size bed and turned to leave.

"Wait" he stopped "when's your girlfriend coming home? I'd love to meet her" I said, trying to sound honest. 

"Oh, she's still at work, she'll be back in a few hours." Taron said quickly, and I could feel the energy in the room change. 

"Taron... You told her I was moving in, right?"

"Well..." Oh no.

"Taron!" 

"I- I was going to!" he shifted uncomfortably "I just couldn't find the right time and I kept delaying it and now you're here and-" he kept stammering and he looked so helpless I simply had to intervene.

"Calm down" I said, putting a hand on his shoulder to steady him "just think of it like... You brought a pet home as a surprise and you have to beg your partner to let you keep it?" 

"You're not a pet though..." He looked miserable. 

"Listen, from what you told me, she sounds like a lovely woman. I'm sure we'll get along well." that seemed to settle him a bit. 

He opened his mouth to respond when we heard the door unlock and turned our heads at the same time like spooked deer. So much for a few hours... Here we go I guess.


	5. Chapter 5

"I thought you said it'd be a few hours!" I hissed.

"She said she'd meet some friends after work, I'm sorry!" he said, sounding worried "okay, uh, let me handle this, I'll talk to her and then you can leave the room and join us when I call you, okay?"

I nodded and he quickly left the room. I heard him yell in greeting but then he got too far away for me to properly hear. I crept closer to the door to listen but it didn't help much. 

I quickly looked around to see if there was a cup in the room but I couldn't find anything so I resorted to glueing my ear to the door. I could hear their voices but couldn't understand anything. She didn't sound pleased at all though. And he probably hasn't even told her I stole from him. 

I heard their footsteps approaching so I quickly backed away from the door and stood in the middle of the room, clasping my hands behind my back awkwardly. 

"Well," I heard Taron's voice from the outside, and then he opened the door "this is Jay! Our new roommate." 

A woman of about 30 entered behind Taron. She was shorter than him and had brown hair, brown eyes and a long, oval face. 

"Nice to meet you." she grumbled, clearly lying "I'm Miriam." She had some sort of northern European accent, probably German. 

I shook her offered hand. "Same! I'm Jay" I tried to sound and look as friendly and non threatening as possible but I wasn't sure it was working. 

Taron clapped his hands together which made me jump. "Well! Now that you two have met, why don't uuuh Miriam and I get started on dinner and you can unpack your stuff and get familiar with the flat eh?" He looked a bit less uncomfortable but he was still obviously nervous. 

"Sounds good to me!" I smiled at them. Miriam turned on her heel and left without a word while Taron told me he hoped I'd get comfortable or something and then quickly left after her. 

My face fell as soon as the door closed behind him. Man being social is exhausting. I could distantly hear them talking, but I couldn't really care, I was too preoccupied with trying to deal with everything that was happening. 

I actually had a place to stay! For free! They'd probably even feed me and everything! Maybe if I'm nice enough I can actually ask Taron for some cash so I don't have to rely on what they buy?

I got out my phone and texted Holly. "I got settled into his house and even met his girlfriend. She seems like a total weirdo. Can't wait to see where this goes". I got a good luck text back from her almost immediately. 

I unpacked my stuff which admittedly wasn't a lot, especially given the huge wardrobe and cabinets the room had. What few clothes I had just looked sad in comparison to them, and I knew I had to remedy that soon as I hung my one coat in a wardrobe big enough for at least 10. 

It only took me about fifteen minutes to get settled in so I decided to just enjoy the room and try to relax while my roommates were probably busy discussing every aspect of my life only a few rooms away but at that point I couldn't care less. 

I flopped down on my bed and turned my attention to the telly on the opposite wall. As usual, British tv had the weirdest things, and I decided to settle for something called naked attraction, hoping neither Taron nor his girlfriend would walk in.

I was halfway through an episode when I heard a knock on my door. I quickly turned the tv off and yelled a "come in". 

Taron opened the door a bit and poked his head through. "Dinner's ready... We tried making pizza, but we also have leftover pasta from yesterday if you'd prefer that." he sputtered out, seemingly nervous for some reason. 

"You can come in, you know" i smiled at him. He let out a small laugh, opened the door fully and stumbled in as I continued to speak "Thank you, that sounds great!"

"So uh... You're all settled in then?" Thank god he brought it up so I didn't have to. I really needed his money for clothes or else he'd start asking where I'm getting new stuff from. 

"Yeah, well, didn't take long with what little clothes I have..." I trailed off, trying to look like someone attempting to hide sadness. 

Taron chuckled awkwardly "Right, didn't think of that, sorry..." he paused "if you want, I could take you to buy some clothes someday... Or just give you some cash so you can buy some yourself?" he added, hurriedly. 

"Really? You'd do that for me?" if I kept this up, of get an oscar sooner than Taron "that'd be really nice, but I'm not sure I can accept it..." Can't be too enthusiastic or he'll think I'm pushy. 

"No no, I insist. After all, I can afford it." 

"Thank you" I said, giving him a small smile. He smiled back and there was a pause but we were interrupted by his girlfriend yelling for him. He flinched and excused himself, and I half yelled that I'd join them in a few moments as he closed the door.

I got off the bed and changed into some loose leggings and a big hoodie. I also put on some socks so my feet wouldn't make me sound like a wet duck on the carpetless floor, and made my way to the kitchen ready to have the most awkward dinner of my life.


End file.
